Cryptocurrency markets ended the quarter on a strong note despite news that the Securities and Exchange Commission may prompt many financial giants to reconsider their Bitcoin ETF applications.
Bitcoin fell less than 1% to around $30,300, trading relatively flat since passing the $30,000 milestone on June 23. Meanwhile, Ether rose 4% to $1,923.
The stock market continued its recent bullish momentum, with the S&P 500 rising more than 1% to close at its highest since April 2022.
TradFi Giants Refile ETF Application
Markets were roiled earlier in the day after it was reported that BlackRock and Fidelity may face hurdles in their recently filed spot Bitcoin ETF applications. According to Reuters, concerns were raised by the SEC over the exchange's failure to include details about crypto trading platforms that would help detect fraud in the underlying spot market.
The CBOE has since resubmitted the application on behalf of Fidelity, Van Eck, Invesco and WisdomTree. All filings name Coinbase, a major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, as a potential partner.
DeFi rally
In the DeFi sector, top gainers included Maker’s MKR, which soared 14%, followed by Aave, which at one point rose 9%. Curve's CRV and Optimism's operating profit also rose by about 8%.
Trading volume across decentralized exchanges this week was down 1.7% to $15.9 billion.
Excluding Bitcoin and Ether, the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, posted gains of at least 2%. Litecoin took the lead with a 24% rise, followed by Bitcoin Cash (BCH) with a 22% rise and Solana (SOL) with an 8% rise.
